Title (fr)

Publication

Application

Priority

EP 01204672 A 20011204

Abstract (en)

The electronic circuits with standard semiconductor components require at least the minimum supply voltage for a stable functioning, and the electronic system allows further lowering of the minimum supply voltage. The range of supply voltage for the stable functioning can be extended to lower values by an effect of mutual compensation of behaviors of semiconductor components in the transient regions. The electronic system (700) with two symmetric sub-circuits (B1,B2) comprises a first part which includes a capacitive voltage divider with capacitors (C1,C2) whose midpoint is connected to the system input (701), the variable capacitance elements (Q1,Q2) which are transistors connected as capacitors, and two polarization blocks (705) connected between the high and low supply voltage (VDD,VSS) terminals and the capacitive voltage divider; two devices (708,720) which are amplifiers or oscillators whose direct (positive) inputs (707,719) are connected to the output terminals (706,718) of the first part circuit and whose outputs (709,721) are connected to the inverted (negative) inputs (710,722) by feedback loops; and an output stage which comprises two transistors (Q'1,Q'2) whose gates are connected to the outputs of the devices (708,720), whose sources are connected to the high and low supply voltage terminals and whose drains are connected to the system output (714). <??>The variable capacitance elements (Q1,Q2) are the transistors of n-type and p-type MOS, respectively, whose gates are connected to the outputs (706,718) of the first part circuit, whose source and drain of each are connected together, and implemented in the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. The polarization blocks (705), which are connected to the high and low supply voltage terminals for polarizing the transistors (Q1,Q2), each contain a current source and a transistor of p-type or n-type MOS whose gate is connected to the source or the drain, respectively. The transistors (Q'1,Q'2) of the output stage are of p-type and n-type MOS, respectively. The system transfer function (H3 = Vout/Vin) is constant from a value of the supply voltage (VDD-VSS) greater than certain voltaeg (VC3), which is greater than the threshold voltage (VT) but below the voltage (VC1), so that the region of constant transfer function is extended to lower supply voltages by a voltage difference ( delta V), which is about 0.5-1 V, with repect to the transfer function of previous devices.